CAMEL MANAGEMENT AND STATUS OF CAMEL BRUCELLOSIS IN JIJIGA ZONE SOUTH EAST LOWLAND AREAS, SOMALI NATIONAL REGIONAL STATE, EASTERN ETHIOPIA
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2006-06
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Abstract
A cross-sectional epidemiological study was carried out from October 2005 to March 2006 to determine the seroprevalence of camel brucellosis in south east low land areas in Jijiga zone, Somali National Regional State (SNRS), to characterize the management system, determine the seroprevalence of camel brucellosis and identify the risk factors that contribute to the occurrence of brucellosis. A simple random sampling method was used to select 822 camel and 185 herds (households). 594 camels and 133 herds were selected from Jijiga area while 228 camels and 52 herds were selected from Babile area. Serum samples were collected from all camels (822) 2 years old or above. The blood samples were screened by RBPT and all RBPT positive reactors were further tested by the CFT for confirmation. Additionally, a structured questionnaire format was prepared and administered to hundred of the 185 selected households to collect information about animal attributes and farm attributes. The results showed that significant proportions of the households kept camel together with cattle and shoats (40%) and only with cattle (32%). The camel herd was dominated by pregnant animals (21.8%), lactating animals (21.1%) and mature non-lactating animals (19.3%). The most important diseases affecting camels in the area as mentioned by the households were trypanosomosis (93%), anthrax (80%), pneumonia (70%), bent neck (59%), abscess (59%), endoparasites (54%) and ectoparasites (51%). Camel management practices like herding and watering, milking and delivery and mating assistance were mainly the responsibilities of adult and young males. In this study, the overall seroprevalence of brucella antibodies in camels was 2.43%( 95% CI=1.6-3.8). Among the potential risk factors considered (sex, age, herd size and parity), none of them had significant effect on individual animal seroprevalence (p>0.05). The herd level seroprevalence was 10.3% (95%CI= 6.7-15.7). Although the herd level seroprevalence was higher in Jijiga (12%) than in Babile (5.8%), the difference was not statistically significant. The herd level seroprevalence was significantly increasing with the increment of the herd size (p<0.01). It can concluded thus camel brucellosis had low prevalence in the areas and herd size was the important risk factor for the occurrence of the disease at herd level.
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camel, brucellosis, seroprevalence, management, risk factor